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LUTZ — Sickles came out strong against district girls basketball rival Steinbrenner on Tuesday, taking a big lead in the first quarter. But in the two to follow, the Warriors chipped away at the Gryphons’ comfortable advantage until it wasn’t so comfortable after all. Sickles, which had led by as ...Read more

Boys Player of the year: F Juwan Durham, So., Tampa Prep Why we picked him: There’s a reason recruiting services rank Durham as one of the country’s top prospects for the class of 2016. Even as a sophomore, the 6-foot-10 Durham dominated nearly every game, averaging 21.6 points, 11.5 rebounds ...Read more

LUTZ — Steinbrenner coach J.R. Allen will be the first to point out his team’s greatest weakness. “We don’t shoot the ball real well,” he said. “That’s no secret.” But with a 42-31 Class 7A, District 8 semifinal victory against Sickles on Wednesday, the Warriors proved again that a strong ...Read more

TAMPA — Mark Key’s soon-to-be senior class had been through it all — a district title, a state final four, you name it. But when the Sickles coach took his first look at the Gryphons’ future district last spring, he knew his team was in for one of its biggest ...Read more

TAMPA — Sickles knew the drill. The Gryphons, who formerly played in the same district with Strawberry Crest, had seen the Chargers six times in the past two years. Tuesday afternoon, that familiarity with its opponent paid of for Sickles (17-6, 3-5), as it beat the Chargers — one of ...Read more

TAMPA — It was as if Freedom’s first basket — a perfectly executed pass from Taylor Emery to Bianca Igwe for a layup — foreshadowed what was to come Friday in the Patriots’ home game against Sickles. But how could the Gryphons have known that the pair, who starting playing ...Read more

Basketball super 7 Records through Tuesday Boys 1. Berkeley Prep (15-1): The Bucs are no longer perfect, but they followed up their lone loss of the year with a six-point win over Tampa Catholic. 2. Tampa Prep (12-2): Juwan Durham and the Terps will make a case for the top ...Read more

LARGO — Steinbrenner came to the Indian Rocks Christian Holiday Tournament with a bad taste in its mouth. And Armwood was unfortunate enough to be the Warriors’ first-round opponent Thursday. What looked like an even matchup saw Steinbrenner cruise to a 58-27 win. The Warriors were the lone Hillsborough County ...Read more

Our girls basketball top 25 for the opening week of the season: 1. Strawberry Crest (20-8 last year): La’Tosha Lewis is not shying away from the expectations. She doesn’t only expect her Chargers to be good, she expects them to be as good as everyone says they will be. “We ...Read more

Sickles senior guard Cassidy O’Brien has signed with Montreat College in North Carolina, according to her father. O’Brien, who was a second-team all-Hillsborough selection by the Times, will start at the private Christian liberal arts school in the fall. Montreat competes in the Appalachian Athletic Conference of the National Association ...Read more

Boys player of the Year G/F Reggie Hart, Sr., Chamberlain Why we picked him: A year after averaging a county-best 28 points, Hart again somehow flourished when every soul in the gym knew the Chiefs’ offense revolved around him. Unassuming physically (6-foot-1, 178 pounds), he slashed, slithered and spotted up ...Read more

SEBASTIAN — Freedom’s Faith Woodard played a strong game through 47-plus minutes Saturday night, but it was her performance in the final minute of regulation that lifted the Patriots to their biggest win to date. Woodard scored the go-ahead basket on a layup with 13 seconds to go, then snared ...Read more

TAMPA — Somehow, Freedom survived one of its sloppiest 16-minute stretches of basketball and went into the locker room with a one-point lead. Yet there was no need for a stirring halftime speech from coach Laurie Pacholke. She was never worried and she could sense her players weren’t, either. The ...Read more